De Búrca Rare Books Gilt Decorated Cloth Bindings - Spring 2021 - De Burca Rare Books
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De Búrca Rare Books
Gilt Decorated Cloth Bindings
Spring 2021
iDE BÚRCA RARE BOOKS
Cloonagashel,
27 Priory Drive,
Blackrock,
County Dublin,
A94 V406
01 288 2159 / 087 2595918
Gilt Decorated Cloth Bindings
Spring 2021
PLEASE NOTE
1. Please order by item number.
2. Payment strictly with order for books.
3. You may return any item found unsatisfactory, within seven days.
4. All items are in good condition, and cloth bound, unless otherwise stated.
5. Prices are net and in Euro. Other currencies are accepted.
6. Postage, insurance and packaging are extra. Items may be collected.
7. All enquiries/orders will be answered.
8. We will be open to visitors when restrictions are lifted.
9. Our hours of business are: Mon. to Fri. 9 a.m.-5.30 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m.- 1 p.m.
10. As we are Specialists in Fine Books, Manuscripts and Maps relating to Ireland,
we are always interested in acquiring single items or collections, and pay the best prices.
11. We accept: Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Cheque and Bank Transfer.
12. Text and images copyright © De Burca Rare Books.
13. All correspondence to 27 Priory Drive, Blackrock, County Dublin, A94 V406.
Telephone (01) 288 2159. International + 353 1 288 2159
(01) 288 6960. International + 353 1 288 6960
Mobile (087) 2595918. International + 353 87 2595918
e-mail deburcararebooks@gmail.com
web site www.deburcararebooks.com
COVER ILLUSTRATION:
Our front cover illustration is taken from a selection of the fine decorative bindings.
iiDe Búrca Rare Books
1. ANDERSEN, Hans C. Hans Andersen’s Fairy Tales. A new translation by Mrs. H.B. Paull.
With original illustrations in colour and monochrome. London: Warne, n.d. (c.1905). Crown
octavo. pp. 383. Dark green cloth over bevelled boards, spine and upper cover decorated in gilt
and black; patterened endpapers. Occasional light foxing. A fine and very attractive copy. €375
A new translation from Danish by H.B. Paull specially adapted and arranged for young people. This
work comprises 57 of the choicest stories of Andersen and complemented with beautiful illustrations,
several in colour.
2. EDGEWORTH, Maria. Helen. Illustrated by Chris Hammond. With an introduction by Anne
Thackeray Ritchie. London: Macmillan, 1896. Crown octavo. pp. xiv, 488, [2]. Original green
cloth, spine and front board elaborately decorated in gilt to a floral design, endpapers with yellow
peacock design. All edges gilt. A very nice copy. €85
3. GALT, John. Annals of the Parish and The Ayrshire Legatees. Illustrated by Charles E. Brock.
With introduction by Alfred Ainger. London: Macmillan and Co., 1896. Crown octavo. pp. xxxiv,
334. Original turquoise cloth, spine and front board elaborately decorated in gilt to a floral design;
endpapers with yellow peacock design. A very good copy. €45
1De Búrca Rare Books
See items 3 & 4.
4. HOOD, Thomas. Humerous Poems. Preface by Alfred Ainger and one hundred and thirty
illustrations by Charles E. Brock. London: Macmillan, 1893. Crown octavo. First edition. pp. xxxi,
236. Original dark green cloth, spine and front board elaborately decorated in gilt to a floral
design, dark green endpapers. All edges gilt. Minor wear to corners, occasional mild foxing. A
very good copy €50
Cranford series.
5. IRVING, Washington Bracebridge Hall. Illustrated by R. Caldecott. London: Macmillan &
Co., 1887. Crown octavo. pp. xiv, 284, [4 (Advertisement)]. Original blue cloth spine and front
board elaborately decorated in gilt with a handsome design in gilt of a young lady seated beside a
tree. Bookplate of Egerton Castle on front pastedown. All edges gilt. A very good copy. €150
This episodic novel was originally published under his pseudonym Geoffrey Crayon. As this is a location-
based series of character sketches, there are a number of individual plots. The tales centre on the
occupants of an English manor (based on Aston Hall, near Birmingham, England, which was occupied by
members of the Bracebridge family and which Irving visited).
See items 5 & 6.
6. IRVING, Washington The Alhambra. With An Introduction By Elizabeth Robins Pennell.
Illustrated with drawings of the places mentioned by Joseph Pennell. London and New York:
Macmillan & Co., 1896. Crown octavo. pp. xx, 436. Original blue cloth spine and front board
elaborately decorated in gilt with a handsome design in gilt of Moorish arabesques and dots. All
edges gilt. €285
2De Búrca Rare Books
Washington Irving’s collection of essays, verbal sketches and tales, centred around the eponymous
Alhambra Palace in Granada, the illustrated Pennell edition. The illustrations by Pennell are particularly
admired. The Alhambra has its origins in Irving’s researches for his history A Chronicle of the Conquest
of Granada. He travelled to Granada, where he managed to obtain access to the Alhambra palace from
the governor. He was inspired by his stay there to write this work, which combines description, myth,
and narrations of historical events, all the way up to the peninsular wars and the earthquake in 1821. The
book was first published in 1832 in the United States and England. It was highly influential, and this
later limited edition is a testament to its enduring popularity.
Cranford series. One of Pennell’s finest achievements in book illustration, and the artist’s earliest
significant work in lithography.
7. LAYARD, Arthur. Ed. by. The Marvellous Adventures of Sir John Maundeville Kt. Being his
voyage and travel which treateth the way to Jerusalem and of the marvels of Ind with other islands
and countries. Edited and profusely illustrated by Arthur Layard. With a preface by John Cameron
Grant. London: Archibald Constable & Co., 1895. Demy octavo. pp. xxx, 414, [1]. Original
maroon cloth, spine and upper cover elaborately decorated in gilt with sailing ships. Top edge gilt.
A very good copy. €75
With 25 charming full-page illustrations; initials, tail-pieces and vignettes.
Sir John Mandeville is the supposed author of The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, a travel memoir
which first circulated between 1357 and 1371. The earliest surviving text is in French. By aid of
translations into many other languages, the work acquired extraordinary popularity. Despite the
extremely unreliable and often fantastical nature of the travels it describes, it was used as a work of
reference: Christopher Columbus, for example, was heavily influenced by both this work and Marco
Polo's earlier Travels.
8. RACKHAM, Arthur (Illustr.). & OTHERS. Queen Mab’s Fairy Realm. Illustrated by H.
Cole, A. Garth Jones, H. R. Millar, A. Rackham, and R. Savage. London: Newnes, 1901. First
edition. Post octavo. pp. xii, [2], 310. Coloured frontispiece and titlepage. Original dark blue cloth
boards, decorative translucent fairy in gilt, impressed design of castle in green to upper cover; light
green endpapers decorated with fairy imagery by A. Garth Jones. All edges gilt. A fine copy. €475
Colour frontispiece and titlepage; black and white illustrations throughout by various artists. A collection
of fairy tales by various authors. Decorative headers and tail-pieces. The 67 black and white illustrations,
many full-page or wrapping though text, are enchanting and greatly enhance these fairy tales.
9. STEEL, Flora Annie. Tales of the Punjab Told by the People. Illustrated by J. Lockwood
Kipling, C.I.E., and notes by R.C. Temple. London: Macmillan and Co., 1894. Crown octavo.
Second edition. pp. xvi, 395. Dark green cloth, spine and upper board elaborately decorated in gilt;
green coated endpapers. All edges gilt. Repair to head of spine. A very good copy. €200
John Lockwood Kipling (1837-1911) was a Yorkshire-born art teacher, illustrator and museum curator
who spent most of his career in India. He was the father of the author Rudyard Kipling.
3De Búrca Rare Books
See items 9 & 10.
10. [SWIFT, Jonathan] Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. By Lemuel Gulliver.
With a preface by Henry Craik, and one hundred illustrations by Charles E Brock. London:
Macmillan, 1894. Crown octavo. First UK printing of this illustrated edition. pp. xxx, 381, [1], [1
(Cranford Series)]. Original green cloth with the elaborate gilt designs to the upper cover and
spine; dark green endpapers. Previous owner’s inscription on front endpaper. All edges gilt. A very
attractive copy. €375
First printing of Brock’s illustrated edition of the satirical utopian Anglo-Irish novel, one of the most
sought editions in Macmillan’s celebrated “Cranford” series. Along with Hugh Thomson and Chris
Hammond, Brock was one of the late Victorian artists sought for his elegant line style for popular gift
editions of classic texts. The delicacy of his lines are still visible in the gilt design on the upper cover of
this book, capturing a depth and nuance rarely achieved in bindings of this kind.
11. THOMSON, Hugh (Illustr.). MITFORD, Mary R. Our Village. With introduction by Ann
Thackeray Ritchie and illustrations by Hugh Thomson. London: Macmillan and Co., 1893. Crown
octavo. Second edition. pp. lx, 256. Original green cloth, spine and front board elaborately
decorated in gilt to a floral design, green coated endpapers; green silk marker. All edges gilt. Small
nick to top of spine. Bookplate of L.M. Tyrwhitt on front pastedown. A very good copy. €95
Cranford series.
12. THOMSON, Hugh (Illustr.). SOMERVILLE, William. The Chase. Illustrated by Hugh
Thomson. London: Redway, 1896. Foolscap octavo. Gilt decorated cloth. Original blue cloth,
spine and front board decorated in gilt with foxhunters. Top edge gilt. A very good copy. €100
4De Búrca Rare Books
“The Chase” is probably the most famous epic length poem and paean to foxhunting and one that most
definitely helped shape the ritual and lore of the sport that was to have its culmination in the nineteenth
century when city nobs would embrace it. Thomson’s illustrations prettify the eighteenth century garb
and milieu at a time that nostalgia for the period was especially pronounced. Although rendered in black
and white, admirers of Thomson’s sentimental realism will not be disappointed.
13. THOMSON, Hugh (Illustr.). READE, Charles. Peg Woffington. With an Introduction by
Austin Dobson and illustrations by Hugh Thomson. London: George Allen, 1899. Crown octavo.
First edition, first impression. pp. li, 297, [1]. Original green cloth, spine and front board
elaborately decorated in gilt to a floral design, green coated endpapers. All edges gilt. Presentation
inscription on half title. Mild foxing to endpapers. All edges gilt. A fine copy. €125
Popular historical novel about the Irish actress and socialite from the Georgian era. The elaborately
ornamented binding design, using elements from nature - in this case, butterflies - to create striking
visual patterns, is a beautiful example of the pictorial cloth gift books produced in the late 19th century.
14. THOMSON, Hugh (Illustr.). READE, Charles. Peg Woffington. With an Introduction by
Austin Dobson and illustrations by Hugh Thomson. London: George Allen, 1899. Crown octavo.
First edition, first printing. pp. li, 297, [1]. Original red cloth, spine and front board elaborately
decorated in gilt to a floral design, green coated endpapers. All edges gilt. Presentation inscription
on half title. Mild foxing to endpapers. All edges gilt. A fine copy. €125
Margaret [Peg] Woffington (1720-1760), Irish actress, one of the outstanding theatrical personalities of
the Georgian era in Dublin and London. Peg was born of humble origins in Dublin. She was discovered
in Dublin by Signora Violante, an Italian acrobat and equilibrist.
See items 15 & 16.
5De Búrca Rare Books
15. THOMSON, Hugh (Illustr.). DARTON, E.J. Harvey. Tales of The Canterbury Pilgrims -
Retold from Chaucer and Others. London: Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1904. Demy octavo.
Second edition. pp. xxiv, 365. Black cloth with stamped lettering and design of horses and trees in
gilt on upper cover and rebacked spine. Mild foxing to endpapers, previous owner’s signature on
front endpaper and with stamp of Greene’s Bookshop. A very good copy. €65
16. THOMSON, Hugh (Illustr.). THACKERAY, William Makepeace. The History of Henry
Esmond, Esq. Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Queen Anne. Written by himself. With an
introduction by Austin Dobson and illustrations by Hugh Thomson. London: Macmillan and Co.,
Limited, 1905. Crown octavo. pp. xlvi, 402, [2 (Advertisement)]. Original green cloth, spine and
front board elaborately decorated in gilt to a floral design, cream endpapers. All edges gilt. Mild
foxing to endpapers. A very good copy. €65
First edition with Thomson’s illustrations.
17. THOMSON, Hugh (Illustr.). ELIOT, George. Scenes of Clerical Life. With Illustrations by
Hugh Thomson. London: Macmillan, 1906. Crown octavo. First edition thus. pp. x, 429, [2
(Advertisement)]. Original blue cloth spine and front board elaborately decorated in gilt with a
shepherd, numerous sheep and flowers; cream endpapers. A very good copy. €95
With 15 full page colour and 35 full page black and white illustrations by Hugh Thomson. The first
Hugh Thomson illustrated book to include illustrations in colour.
18. THOMSON, Hugh (Illustr.). ELIOT, George. Silas Marner. [The Weaver of Raveloe]. With
Illustrations by Hugh Thomson. London: Macmillan, 1907. Crown octavo. First edition thus.
pp.vi, [2], 322, [2 (Advertisement)]. Original blue cloth spine and front board elaborately
decorated in gilt with a handloom and a young girl; cream endpapers. Mild foxing, wear to head of
spine. A very good copy. €95
With 24 full page colour and 21 full page black and white illustrations by Hugh Thomson.
19. THOMSON, Hugh (Illustr.). DOBSON, Austin. Tales from Maria Edgeworth. London:
Wells Gardner Darton, 1903. Demy octavo. First edition. pp. xxiv, [2], 412. Maroon cloth, title
and gilt decoration on spine and upper cover. Blind decorative design to rear cover. Spine slightly
faded and rubbed. Previous owner’s signatures. Top edge gilt. A good copy. €125
Thirteen-page introduction by Austin Dobson. Illustrated with fifty-one black and white plates including
frontispiece by Hugh Thomson. ‘Although, by their sub-title, these stories are professedly composed for
children, they are almost as attractive to grown-up readers.’ A decorative Edwardian edition of Maria
Edgeworth’s eighteenth-century stories, profusely illustrated by Hugh Thomson.
6De Búrca Rare Books
See items 19 & 20.
20. WINTER, William. Shakespeare’s England. Illustrated edition. New York & London:
Macmillan, 1893. Crown octavo. Dark green cloth, spine and upper cover with attractive gilt
decoration of repeating Tudor roses with an armorial device; dark green endpapers; armorial
bookplate of Ethel G. Meyerstein on front pastedown. Some mild foxing to prelims. A very nice
copy. €75
Cranford series. The author’s tour of England in which he describes the beauty of its landscape, famous
homes, churches, streets, shops, etc.
7De Búrca Rare Books
PRINCIPAL SOURCES CONSULTED
BEST Bibliography of Irish Philology & of Printed Irish Literature, 1913.
BLACK Catalogue of Pamphlets on Economic Subjects 1750-1900 in Irish Libraries.
BONAR LAW The Printed Maps of Ireland 1612-1850, Dublin, 1997.
BRADSHAW Catalogue of the Bradshaw Collection of Irish Books. 3 vols. 1916.
COPAC Online Public Access Catalogue.
CRAIG Dublin 1660-1860.
CRAIG Irish Bookbinding. 1954.
CRONE The Irish Book Lover. 1910 - 1952.
DE BURCA Three Candles Bibliographical Catalogue. 1998.
DIX Early Printed Dublin Books, 1601-1700. New York, 1971.
D.I.B. Dictionary of Irish Biography. Cambridge, 2009.
D.N.B. The Concise Dictionary of National Biography. 1973.
ELLMAN James Joyce. Oxford, 1983.
ELMES & HEWSON Catalogue of Irish Topographical Prints and Original Drawings, Dublin 1975.
E.S.T.C. Eighteenth Century Short Title Catalogue.
FEDERMAN & FLETCHER Samuel Beckett His Works and His Critics.
FERGUSON, Paul Map Library, TCD.
FRIEL, Patricia Frederick Trench (1746-1836) and Heywood, Queen's County. 2000.
GILBERT Catalogue of Books and Mss. in the library of Sir John Gilbert.
HALKETT & LANG A Dictionary of the Anonymous and Pseudonymous Literature of Great Britain.
HERBERT Limerick Printers & Printing. 1942.
HICKEY & DOHERTY A Dictionary of Irish History Since 1800. Dublin, 1980.
HOGAN Dictionary of Irish Literature. Dublin, 1979.
KELLY, James Irish Protestants and the Experience of Rebellion. 2003.
KENNEDY, Máire Printer to the City: John Exshaw, Lord Mayor of Dublin 1789-90. [2006]
KEYNES A Bibliography of Sir William Petty F.R.S. 1971.
KINANE A History of the Dublin University Press 1734-1976, Dublin, 1994.
KRESS The Kress Library of Business and Economics in Harvard. 4 vols. 1940-67.
LOEBER A Guide to Irish Fiction 1650 - 1900. Dublin, Four Courts, 2006.
LYNAM The Irish Character in Print. Dublin 1969.
McCREADY A William Butler Yeats Encyclopædia.
McDONNELL & HEALY Gold Tooled Bookbindings Commissioned by Trinity College in the 18th Century.
McDONNELL Five Hundred years of the Art of the Bookbinder in Ireland. 1500 to the Present.
McGEE Irish Writers of the 17th Century. 1974.
McTERNAN Here’s to their Memory, & Sligo Sources. 1977 & 1988.
MELVIN Estates and Landed Society in Galway. 2012.
MILLER Dolmen XXV Bibliography 1951-1976.
MUNTER A Dictionary of the Print Trade in Ireland 1550-1775. New York, 1988.
N.S.T.C. Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue.
NEWMAN Companion to Irish History, 1991.
O’DONOGHUE The Poets of Ireland. Dublin, 1912.
O’FARRELL Who’s Who in the Irish War of Independence. Dublin, 1980.
O’HIGGINS A Bibliography of Irish Trials & other Legal Proceedings. Oxon, 1986.
O’REILLY Four Hundred Irish Writers.
PATERSON The County Armagh Volunteers of 1778-1993.
PHILLIPS Printing and Book Production in Dublin 1670-1800.
POLLARD Dublin’s Trade in Books 1550-1800.
POLLARD Dictionary of Members of the Dublin Book Trade 1550-1800.
PYLE The Different Worlds of Jack B. Yeats. His Cartoons and Illustrations. Dublin, 1994.
SLATER Directory of Ireland. 1846.
SLOCUM & CAHOON A Bibliography of James Joyce. London, 1953.
STC A Short-Title Catalogue. 1475-1640.
SWEENEY Ireland and the Printed Word 1475-1700. Dublin, 1997.
WADE A Bibliography of the Writings of W.B. Yeats. 1968.
WALL The Sign of Doctor Hay’s Head. Dublin 1958.
WARE The Works - Harris edition. Dublin 1764.
WEBB A Compendium of Irish Biography. Dublin, 1878.
WIKIPEDIA Online Encyclopaedia.
WING Short Title Catalogue of Books Published in England and English Books Published
Abroad.
8A SELECTION OF FINE BOOKS FROM OUR
PUBLISHING HOUSE
B1. BÉASLAÍ, Piaras. Michael Collins and the Making of a New Ireland. Two volumes. A new
introduction by Brian P. Murphy, O.S.B. With two portraits in full colour by Sir John Lavery, and
other illustrations to each volume. This major work on Michael Collins is by one of his closest
friends. An item which is now commanding in excess of four figures in the auction houses.
Dublin: De Búrca, 2008. Royal octavo. pp. (1) xxxii, 292, (2) vi, 328.
The limited edition in full green goatskin gilt with a medallion portrait and signature of Collins
also in gilt. Housed in a fine slipcase. It includes the list of subscribers. Last few copies. €475
The general edition is limited to 1,000 sets superbly bound in green buckram, with a medallion
portrait embossed in gilt on the upper covers, and in slipcase. €95
Michael Collins (1890-1922), was born at Woodfield, Clonakilty, County Cork, the son of a small farmer.
Educated locally, and at the age of sixteen went to London as a clerk in the Post Office. He joined the
I.R.B. in London. During Easter Week he was Staff Captain and ADC to James Connolly in the GPO.
With The O’Rahilly he led the first party out of the GPO immediately before its surrender. Arrested,
imprisoned and released in December 1916, he was for a long time the most wanted man in Ireland but he
practically eliminated the British Secret Service with the Bloody Sunday morning operation. Michael
Collins and the Making of a New Ireland is the official biography of a great soldier-statesman and the first
authentic history of the rebirth of a nation. Written with inner knowledge by an intimate friend and
comrade-in-arms who served with Collins on Headquarters Staff and who shared in many of his amazing
adventures and hairsbreadth escapes.
SPECIAL LIMITED EDITION OF 15 SETS IN FULL LEATHER
B2. BORLASE, William G. The Dolmens of Ireland. Their distribution, structural characteristics,
and affinities in other countries; together with the folk-lore attaching to them; supplemented by
considerations on the anthropology, ethnology, and traditions of the Irish people. With over 800
illustrations (including 3 coloured plates), and 4 coloured folding maps. Dublin: Éamonn de Búrca
for Edmund Burke Publisher, 2013. Royal octavo. pp. (1) xvi, xxxvi, 304 (2) 305-712 (3) 413-
1234, [1 (errata)]. Titlepages printed in red and black. Three volumes. Bound in full green
morocco, title and gilt Celtic design on upper cover, titled in gilt on spine; red and green endbands;
yellow silk marker. Special edition limited to 15 sets in full morocco, signed and numbered by the
publisher. With ‘List of Subscribers’. In fine slipcase. €1,250
B2A. BORLASE, William G. The Dolmens of Ireland. Their distribution, structural
characteristics, and affinities in other countries; together with the folk-lore attaching to them;
supplemented by considerations on the anthropology, ethnology, and traditions of the Irish people.
With over 800 illustrations (including 3 coloured plates), and 4 coloured folding maps. Dublin:
Éamonn de Búrca for Edmund Burke Publisher, 2013. Royal octavo. pp. (1) xvi, xxxvi, 304 (2)
305-712 (3) 413-1234, [1 (errata)]. Titlepages printed in red and black. Three volumes. Full
buckram decorated in gilt to a Celtic design. With slipcase. Edition limited to 300 sets and 15
Special sets. With ‘List of Subscribers’. €295
The first comprehensive survey of each of the counties of Ireland. With sketches by the author from
drawings by Petrie, Westropp, Miss Stokes, Windele, Wood-Martin, Wakeman, etc. The third volume
contains an index and the material from folklore, legend, and tradition. A most attractive set of books.
B3. BOURKE [de Búrca], Éamonn. Burke People and Places. With clan location maps,
illustrations and 50 pages of genealogies. Dublin: By Éamonn de Búrca, for Edmund Burke
Publisher and Whitegate, Ballinakella Press, 2001. Demy octavo. Fourth. pp. 173. Fine in stiff
9Edmund Burke Publisher
pictorial wrappers. Enlarged with an extra 35 pages of genealogies. €20
B4. CHANDLER, Edward. Photography in Ireland. The Nineteenth Century. Illustrated. Dublin:
De Búrca, 2001. Demy quarto. pp. xii, 44 (plates), 134. Fine in fine dust jacket. €20
LIMITED EDITION
B5. COLGAN, John. Triadis Thaumaturgae, seu Divorum Patricii, Columbae et Brigidae, trium
veteris et maioris Scotiae, seu Hiberniae Sanctorum Insulae, Communium Patronorum Acta, a
Variis, iisque pervetustis, ac Sanctis authoribus Scripta, ac studio R.P.F. Joannis Colgani, in
Conventu FF Minor, Hibernor. strictior. observ. Louanii, S. Theologiae Lectorius Jubilati. Ex
variis Bibliothecis collecta, Scholiis et commentariis illustrata, et pluribus Appendicibus aucta:
complectitur Tomus Secundus Sacrarum ejusdem insulae Antiquitatum - Louvain 1647. Dublin:
By Éamonn de Búrca, 1997. Foolscap folio. pp. [xvi], [xxii], 740, [2]. We have republished ‘one
of the rarest of all Irish books’, with a new introduction by Pádraig Ó Riain. The edition is limited
to 300 copies, and handsomely bound in blue morocco, title in gilt on spine, top edge gilt, gilt
Celtic device on upper cover, red silk marker. Fine in slipcase. €190
Lecky described this volume “as one of the most interesting collections of lives of the saints in the world.
It is very shameful that it has not been reprinted”. The new introduction by Pádraig Ó Riain contains the
first published account of Colgan’s recently discovered manuscript notes to the Triadis.
B6. COSTELLO, Willie. A Connacht Man’s Ramble. Recollections of growing up in rural
Ireland of the thirties and forties. With an introduction by Dr. Tom Mitchell. Illustrated by Gerry
O’Donovan and front cover watercolour by James MacIntyre. Map on end-papers. Dublin: De
Búrca, 2002. Demy octavo. Fourth edition. pp. xii, 211. Fine in French flaps. €20
A deeply personal collection of memories and a valuable account of Irish history including cattle fairs,
threshing, rural electrification, interspersed with stories of the matchmaker, the town crier, the chimney
sweep and the blacksmith. Over two thousand copies sold in the first week of publication.
B7. COSTELLO, Willie. The Rambling House. Tales from the West of Ireland. Illustrated by
Gerry O Donovan and front cover water-colour by James McIntyre. Dublin: De Búrca, 2003.
Demy octavo. pp. x, 111. Fine in French flaps. €20
B8. CUSACK, M.F. A History of the Kingdom of Kerry. Illustrated. Dublin: De Búrca, 1995.
Demy octavo. pp. xvi, 453, 6 (extra maps), lxxxiii. Fine in full buckram, with illustrated coloured
dust jacket depicting Jobson’s manuscript map of Kerry 1598. €75
Margaret Cusack’s History of the Kingdom of Kerry is an excellent work treating of the history,
topography, antiquities and genealogy of the county. There is an excellent account of the families of: The
O’Sullivans and MacCarthys; Geraldine Genealogies; The Knights of Kerry and Glyn; Population and
Religion; Agricultural Information; St. Brendan; Dingle in the Sixteenth Century; Ardfert; The Geology
and Botany of Kerry; Deep Sea Fisheries; Kerry Rivers and Fishing etc.
LIMITED EDITION
B9. DALTON, Charles Ed. by. King Charles The Second’s Irish Army Lists, 1661-1685. Dublin:
Éamonn De Búrca, 2000. Royal octavo. Second edition. pp. xxxiv, 176. Fine facsimile limited
edition bound in quarter morocco, title in gilt on spine, head and tail bands. In slipcase. Signed and
numbered by the publisher. €90
The editor made extensive use of the manuscripts of the Marquis of Ormonde, preserved at Kilkenny
Castle, the calendared and uncalendared Irish State papers, the King’s Letter Books and Entry Books at
the Public Record Office for the names of Officers serving on the Irish Establishment, 1661-1685.
King Charles’s new army dates from 11th February, 1661 and when the Irish parliament met in May the
Lord Chancellor informed the House that “there were twenty months” arrears due to the army.
LIMITED EDITION
B10. DE COURCY IRELAND, John. History of Dun Laoghaire Harbour. With numerous
illustrations and maps. Dublin: By Éamonn de Búrca, for Edmund Burke Publisher, 2001. Royal
10Edmund Burke Publisher
octavo. First edition. pp. xiv, 184. Limited edition of 50 copies, signed by the author and
publisher. Bound in full maroon levant morocco, covers with a gilt anchor and sailing ship. Spine
divided into five compartments by four gilt raised bands. Top edge gilt. A fine binding from the
Harcourt Bindery, Boston. €500
Dun Laoghaire harbour, recognised as one of the most picturesque in Europe, was built early in the 19th
century as the consequence of an explosion of popular anger at the continuous deaths from shipwreck in
Dublin Bay. The most competent and experienced navigators at that time described the port of Dublin as
the most perilous in the whole world for a ship to leave or approach in certain circumstances. The new
harbour was built as an ‘Asylum’ harbour or port of refuge, and became with the introduction of steam-
driven passenger and mail carrying ships the busiest port on the eastern shore of the Irish Sea, as well as
a leading fishing port and popular yachting centre.
B11. DE COURCY IRELAND, John. History of Dun Laoghaire Harbour. With numerous
illustrations and maps. Dublin: By Éamonn de Búrca, for Edmund Burke Publisher, 2002. Royal
octavo. Second edition. pp. xiv, 184. Fine in fine dust jacket. €65
B12. DONOHOE, Tony. The History of Crossmolina. Foreword by Thomas Gildea Cannon.
Illustrated. Dublin: De Búrca, 2003. Royal octavo. pp. xviii, 627. Buckram gilt in dust jacket.
Almost out of print. Very scarce. €150
The author Tony Donohoe, farmer and keen local historian has chronicled in great detail the history his
ancestral parish from the early Christian period to the present. This authoritative work is the result of
thirty years of meticulous research and is a most welcome contribution to the history of County Mayo.
B13. [FAMINE IN IRELAND] Transactions of the Central Relief Committee of the Society of
Friends during the famine in Ireland, 1846 and 1847. With an index by Rob Goodbody. Dublin:
De Búrca, 1996. Medium octavo. pp. xliii, 529. Fine in buckram gilt. €35
It is difficult to read unmoved some of the detailed testimony contained in this volume of the reports of
the envoys sent out by the Central Relief Committee of the Society of Friends, who found out for
themselves what was really going on during the Famine in remote country areas.
B14. GLEESON, Rev. John. Cashel of the Kings. A History of the Ancient Capital of Munster
from the date of its foundation until the present day. Including historical notices of the Kings of
Cashel from the 4th century to the 12th century. The succession of bishops and archbishops from
St. Ailbe to the present day. Notices of the principal abbeys belonging to the territory around
Cashel, together with items of local history down to the 19th century. Illustrated. Dublin: De
Búrca, 2001. Demy octavo. pp. [ii], xix, 312. Fine in fine dust jacket. €40
An important and scholarly work on one of the most celebrated places of historic interest in Ireland. In
medieval times it was the ecclesiastical capital of Munster. Conquered by the Eoghanacht tribe
(MacCarthys) led by Conall Corc in the fifth century who set up a fortress on St. Patrick’s Rock, they
ruled over the fertile plains of Munster unchallenged and the title King of Cashel remained synonymous
with that of King of Munster. In law and tradition the kings of Cashel knew no superior and did not
acknowledge the overlordship of Tara for five hundred years.
B15. HARRISON, Alan. The Dean’s Friend. Anthony Raymond (1675-1726), Jonathan Swift and
the Irish Language. Illustrated. Dublin: De Búrca, 1999. Demy octavo. pp. xv, 175. Fine in fine
illustrated dust jacket. €35
The book introduces us to 17th and 18th century Ireland and to the interface between the two languages
and the two cultures. It is a fascinating study of the troubled period after the Battle of the Boyne.
A CLASSIC OF THE GALLOGLAS FAMILIES
B16. HAYES-McCOY, Gerard A. Scots Mercenary Forces in Ireland (1565-1603). An account
of their service during that period, of the reaction of their activities on Scottish affairs, and of the
effect of their presence in Ireland, together with an examination of the Gallóglaigh or Galloglas.
With maps, illustrations and genealogies of the MacSweeneys, Clan Donald and the O’Neills of
Tír Eoghain. With an introduction by Professor Eoin MacNeill. Dublin: By Éamonn de Búrca, for
Edmund Burke Publisher, 1996. Demy octavo. pp. xxi, 391. Superb facsimile reprint, bound in full
11Edmund Burke Publisher
buckram, with head and tail bands. In coloured dustjacket depicting three galloglasses and an Irish
Foot Soldier of the 16th century. €45
They were a force to be reckoned with. An English writer of the period described them as follows: “The
galloglasses are picked and selected men of great and mighty bodies, cruel, without compassion. The
greatest force of the battle consisteth in their choosing rather to die than to yield, so that when it cometh
to handy blows, they are quickly slain or win the field”.
ANNALS OF ULSTER
B17. HENNESSY, William M. & MacCARTHY, B. Ed. by. The Annals of Ulster, otherwise
Annala Senait. A chronicle of Irish Affairs from A.D. 431 to A.D. 1540. With translation, notes,
and index. New introduction by Nollaig Ó Muraíle. Dublin: De Búrca, 1998. Royal octavo. Four
volumes. Full buckram gilt in slipcase. €285
The important Annals of Ulster compiled by Cathal Og Mac Maghnusa at Seanaidh Mac Maghnusa, now
Belle Isle in Lough Erne, were so named by the noted ecclesiastic, Ussher, on account of their containing
many chronicles relating to that province, with more detail on ecclesiastical history than the Annals of
the Four Masters.
B18. HENNESSY, William M. Ed. by. The Annals of Lough Cé. A chronicle of Irish affairs
from A.D. 1014 to A.D. 1590. Edited and with a translation by W.M. Hennessy. With folding
coloured plate of the TCD Ms. Two volumes. Dublin: Éamonn De Búrca, 2000. Royal octavo.
Third edition. pp. (1) lix, 653, (2) 689. Limited edition bound in full green morocco. Fine in
slipcase. €500
These Annals were compiled under the patronage of Brian MacDermott, Chief of Moylurg, who resided
in his castle on an island in Lough Key, near Boyle, County Roscommon. They begin with the Battle of
Clontarf and continue up to 1636 treating on the whole with Irish affairs, but have many entries of
English, Scottish and continental events. They are a primary source for the history of North Connaught.
B19. HENNESSY, William M. Ed. by. The Annals of Lough Cé. A chronicle of Irish affairs
from A.D. 1014 to A.D. 1590. Edited and with a translation by W.M. Hennessy. With folding
coloured plate of the TCD Ms. Two volumes. Dublin: De Búrca, 2000. Third. Royal octavo. pp.
(1) lix, 653, (2) 689. Superb set bound in full buckram gilt and in presentation slipcase. €110
HIS NEVER-FORGOTTEN COUNTRYSIDE ABOUT GLENOSHEEN
B20. JOYCE, P.W. Irish Names of Places. With a new introductory essay on the life of P.W.
Joyce by Mainchín Seoighe. Dublin: De Búrca, 1995. Three volumes. Crown octavo. pp. (1) xl,
589, (2) viii, 538, (3) x, 598. Fine. €165
This scholarly edition is enhanced with a new introductory essay on the life of that noted scholar from
County Limerick, P.W. Joyce, by the late Mainchín Seoighe, who states: “P.W. Joyce followed in the
footsteps of Bunting and Petrie, of O’Donovan and O’Curry, reaching, however, a larger public than
any of these four had reached”.
B21. KILROY, Patricia. Fall of the Gaelic Lords. 1534-1616. Dublin: By Éamonn De Búrca for
Edmund Burke Publisher, 2008. Royal octavo. pp. x, 192. Illustrated. Fine in illustrated dust
jacket. €29.50
No period in Irish history is quite so full of drama, heroism and tragedy as the eighty-odd years from the
mid 16th to the early 17th centuries: the age of the fall of the Gaelic lords. This intriguing and moving
narrative recounts the passing of Gaelic Ireland when the Tudor Crown sought to subdue the island and
the Irish chiefs defended their ancient territories and way of life. Beginning in 1534 with young Silken
Thomas’ defiant stand at the gates of Dublin Castle, it tells the story of Red Hugh O’Donnell’s capture
and escape, the rise of the Great Hugh O’Neill and the bloody Nine Years War culminating in the Battle
of Kinsale, and finally, the Flight of the Earls.
B22. KNOX, Hubert Thomas. The History of the County of Mayo to the Close of the Sixteenth
Century. With illustrations and three maps. Castlebourke: De Búrca, 2000. Royal octavo. pp. xvi,
451. Fine in fine dust jacket. €45
Prime historical reference work on the history of the County Mayo from the earliest times to 1600. It
deals at length with the De Burgo Lordship of Connaught. Illustrated with a large folding map of the
12Edmund Burke Publisher
county. With 49 pages of genealogies of leading Mayo families: O’Connor, MacDonnell Galloglass,
Bourke Mac William Iochtar, Gibbons, Jennings, Philbin, Barret, Joyce, Jordan, Costello, etc.
LIMITED TO 200 COPIES
B23. LOEBER, Rolf & Magda. Ed. by. Irish Poets and their Pseudonyms in Early Periodicals.
Dublin: Edmund Burke Publisher, 2007. Royal octavo. pp. xxii, 168. Fine in illustrated dust jacket.
€65
Many Irish poems remain hidden in the periodicals and were published under pseudonyms. Therefore,
the identity of hundred of Irish poets often is elusive. The discovery of a manuscript of pseudonyms of
Irish poets made this volume possible. It lists over 1,200 pseudonyms for 504 Irish poets whose work
appeared in over 500 early periodicals published in Ireland, England, North America, and Australia.
B24. LOHAN, Máire. An ‘Antiquarian Craze’. The life, times and work in archaeology of Patrick
Lyons R.I.C. (1861-1954). Dublin: By Éamonn De Búrca for Edmund Burke Publisher, 2008.
Royal octavo. pp. xiv, 192. Illustrated. Fine in coloured illustrated stiff wraps. €19.50
Born in 1861, Sgt. Patrick Lyons, ‘The Antiquarian Policeman’, served with the Royal Irish
Constabulary from 1886 - 1920. While stationed in the West of Ireland, he developed a keen interest in
documenting the field-monuments he noticed on his patrols. His discovery of four ogham stones led to a
correspondence with Hubert Knox, a renowned Mayo Antiquarian; Lyons provided Knox with important
descriptions of field monuments, contributing to 19 published papers. Out of modesty, and fear that the
R.I.C. would frown on his ‘antiquarian craze’, he preferred not to be acknowledged by name, although
he was much admired for his fine mind and dedicated antiquarian ‘policework’ by those few with whom
he shared his interest.
B25. MacEVILLY, Michael. A Splendid Resistance. A Life of IRA Chief of Staff Dr. Andy
Cooney. Foreword by Sean O Mahony. Illustrated. Dublin: Éamonn De Búrca, 2011. Royal
octavo. pp. xix, 427.
Paperback in coloured illustrated French flaps. €20
Hardback in coloured illustrated dustjacket. €50
Limited edition of 50 copies in full green morocco gilt, in slipcase. €225
The appointment of Andy (Andrew) Cooney as Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) while
still a medical student was the highpoint of a military career which began in 1917 and was not to end
until 1944. Prior to this he had served as a Volunteer, GHQ Officer, Brigade Commander and Divisional
Commander before being appointed to the IRA General Staff with the rank of Chief of Staff in 1925, at
which time he was elected as Chairman of the IRA Executive.
Michael MacEvilly’s meticulously researched life of Dr. Andy Cooney sheds valuable light on a chapter
of Irish republicanism which has hitherto been seriously neglected. No student of Irish republican
history can afford to ignore this book, which is also to be commended for its selection of many hitherto
unpublished photographs. - Tim Pat Coogan.
EDITION LIMITED TO 10 SIGNED SETS
B26. MacFHIRBHISIGH, Dubhaltach. The Great Book of Irish Genealogies - Leabhar
Genealach. Edited, with translation and indices by Nollaig Ó Muraíle. List of subscribers. Five
volumes. Dublin: De Búrca, 2003/4. Quarto. Bound in quarter green morocco on cloth boards.
Spine divided into six compartments by five raised bands. Title and author/editor on maroon
morocco letterpieces in the second and fourth, the remainder tooled in gilt to an interlacing Celtic
design. White endbands. Top edge gilt. Edition limited to ten sets only, signed by the Publisher
and Editor. €1,650
The great Connacht scholar Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh (c.1600-1671), from Lackan, County Sligo,
compiled his monumental Great Book of Genealogies in Galway at the height of the Cromwellian Wars
in the mid-seventeenth century. The work has long been recognised as the most important source for the
study of Irish family history, and it is also of great importance to historians of pre-17th century Ireland
since it details the ancestry of many significant figures in Irish history - including: Brian Boroimhe
(d.1014); Ulick Burke, Marquis of Clanricarde (d.1657); James Butler, Duke of Ormonde (d.1688);
Somhairle Buidhe (Sorley Boy) MacDonnell (d.1589); Randal MacDonnell, Marquis of Antrim
13Edmund Burke Publisher
(d.1683); Garrett Óg Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare (d.1536); Diarmuid Mac Murchadha (d.1171); Myler
Magrath, Archbishop of Cashel (d.1622), Murrough O’Brien, Baron of Inchiquin (d.1674); Feagh
MacHugh O’Byrne (d.1597); Rory O’Conor.(d.1198); Red Hugh O’Donnell (d.1602); Hugh O’Neill,
Earl of Tyrone (d.1616); Owen Roe O’Neill (d.1649), and many, many more.
B27. MacFHIRBHISIGH, Dubhaltach The Great Book of Irish Genealogies - Leabhar
Genealach. Edited, with translation and indices by Nollaig Ó Muraíle. List of subscribers. Five
volumes. Dublin: De Búrca, 2003/4. Quarto. Full buckram gilt. Over 3,600 pages. In presentation
box. €635
The original text, both prose and poetry, of both works is accompanied by a painstaking English
translation. The edition includes a comprehensive series of indices which provide a key to the tens of
thousands of personal names, surnames, tribal names and place-names that the work contains.
B28. MARTIN, Edward A. A Dictionary of Bookplates of Irish Medical Doctors. With short
biographies. Illustrated. Dublin: De Búrca, 2003. Royal octavo. pp. xiv, 160. Illustrated boards in
dust jacket. €36
B29. MELVIN, Patrick. Estates and Landed Society in Galway. With a foreword by Desmond
Fitzgerald, Knight of Glin. Illustrated. Dublin: De Búrca, December, 2012. Royal octavo. pp. 512.
Full buckram gilt. And a limited edition of 50 copies only in full goatskin.
Standard edition €75
Limited edition €255
This work is based on a Trinity College Dublin Ph.D. thesis prepared under the direction of Professor
L.M. Cullen. It investigates and describes the varied origins of estates and proprietors in Galway and
how that process was affected by the political turmoils and transplantations of the 17th century. The
aftermath of these turmoils in saw the establishment of a core number of successful estates founded
largely by ambitious families able to trim their sails to changing times and opportunities.
B30. NELSON, E. Charles & WALSH, Wendy F. An Irish Flower Garden Replanted. The
Histories of Some of Our Garden Plants. With coloured and Chinese ink illustrations by Wendy F.
Walsh. Second edition revised and enlarged. Dublin: Edmund Burke Publisher, 1997. Royal
octavo. pp. x, 276. Pictorial boards. €65
The book is lavishly illustrated by Wendy Walsh, with 21 colour plates, eighteen figures in Chinese inks
and nine vignettes in pencil.
A MONUMENT TO ONE OF OUR GREAT CELTIC SCHOLARS
B31. O’CURRY, Eugene. On The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish. A series of lectures
delivered by the late Eugene O’Curry, M.R.I.A., Professor of Irish History and Archaeology in the
Catholic University of Ireland. Edited, appendices etc, by W.K. Sullivan. With a new introduction
by Nollaig Ó Muraíle. Three volumes. Dublin: By Éamonn de Búrca, 1996. Demy octavo. pp. (1)
xviii, 664, (2), xix, 392 (3) xxiv, 711. Bound in full green buckram, with harp in gilt on upper
covers. Head and tail bands. Fine. €235
His thirty-eight lectures On the Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish, delivered at the University
between May 1857 and July 1862 (the last one only a fortnight before his death) were published in
Dublin. O’Curry’s works stand to this day as a monument to one of our greatest Celtic scholars.
B32. O’DONOVAN, John. Ed. by. Annála Ríoghachta Éireann - Annals of the Kingdom of
Ireland by the Four Masters. From the earliest times to the year 1616. Edited from the manuscript
in the Royal Irish Academy and Trinity College Dublin, with copious historical, topographical and
genealogical notes and with special emphasis on place-names. Seven large vols. With a new
introduction by Kenneth Nicholls. Dublin: De Búrca, 1998. Over 4,000 pages. Large quarto.
Superb set in gilt and blind stamped green buckram, in presentation box. €865
This is the third and best edition as it contains the missing years [1334-1416] of the now lost Annals of
Lecan from Roderic O’Flaherty’s transcript. To enhance the value of this masterpiece a colour
reproduction of Baptista Boazio’s map of Ireland 1609 is included in a matching folder.
14Edmund Burke Publisher
The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, Annála Ríoghachta Éireann or the Annals of the Four Masters to
give them their best known title are the great masterpieces of Irish history from the earliest times to 1616
A.D. The work was compiled between 1632 and 1636 by a small team of historians headed by Br.
Michael O’Clery, a Franciscan lay brother. He himself records: “there was collected by me all the best
and most copious books of Annals that I could find throughout all Ireland, though it was difficult for me
to collect them in one place”. A superb set of this monumental source for the history of Ireland.
B33. SWEENEY, Tony. Catalogue Raisonné of Irish Stuart Silver. A Short Descriptive Catalogue
of Surviving Irish Church, Civic, Ceremonial & Domestic Plate dating from the Reigns of James I,
Charles I, The Commonwealth, Charles II, James II, William & Mary, William III & Queen Anne
1603-1714. Illustrated. Dublin: De Búrca, 1995. Folio. pp. 272. In a fine buckram binding by
Museum Bookbinding, printed in Dublin by Betaprint. Signed numbered limited edition of 400
copies (360 are for sale). Fine in illustrated dust jacket. €135
Compiled from records of holdings by Cathedrals, Churches, Religious Houses, Colleges, Municipal
Corporations, Museums and Art Galleries.
DE-LUXE LIMITED EDITION
B34. SWEENEY, Tony & Annie, & HYLAND, Francis. The Sweeney Guide to the Irish Turf
from 1501-2001. Owners, Trainers, Jockeys, Sires, Records, Great Races, Flat & Jumping, Places
of Sport, Past & Present, The Dish Spiced with Anecdotes, Facts, Fancies. Profusely illustrated
with coloured plates. Dublin: De Búrca, 2002. Folio. pp. 648. Edition limited to 25 numbered
copies only, signed by the partners, publisher and binder. Bound in full green niger oasis by Des
Breen. Upper cover tooled in gilt with a horseshoe enclosing a trefoil with the heads of ‘Sadler’s
Wells’, ‘Arkle’ and ‘Nijinsky’, above lake waters (SWAN-LAKE). Splash-marbled end-papers;
green and cream head and tail bands. All edges gilt. With inset CD carrying the full text of the
work making it possible for subscribers to enter results subsequent to 2001. This is the only copy
remaining of the Limited Edition. €1,650
Apart from racing enthusiasts, this is a most valuable work for students of local history as it includes
extensive county by county records of race courses and stud farms, with hitherto unfindable details.
The late Dr. Tony Sweeney, Anglo-Irish racing journalist and commentator, was Irish correspondent of
the Daily Mirror for 42 years and shared RTE television commentary with Michael and Tony O’Hehir.
B35. SWEENEY, Tony & Annie, & HYLAND, Francis. The Sweeney Guide to the Irish Turf
from 1501-2001. Owners, Trainers, Jockeys, Sires, Records, Great Races, Flat & Jumping, Places
of Sport, Past & Present, The Dish Spiced with Anecdotes, Facts, Fancies. Profusely illustrated
with coloured plates. Dublin: De Búrca, 2002. Folio. pp. 648. Bound in full buckram gilt. €95
B36. TALBOT, Hayden. Michael Collins’ Own Story. Told to Hayden Talbot. With an
introduction by Éamonn de Búrca. Dublin: De Búrca, November, 2012. Royal octavo. pp. 256,
plus index. Full buckram gilt. And a limited edition of 50 copies only in full goatskin.
Standard edition. €45
Limited edition. €375
The American journalist Hayden Talbot first met Michael Collins at the Gresham Hotel in Dublin,
shortly after the signing of the Anglo-Irish treaty in December 1921. This work contains an invaluable
insight into Collins’ thinking and actions during this epic period of Irish history. It deals at length with
Easter Week, The Black and Tans, The Murder of Francis Sheehy Skeffington, the Treaty negotiations
and his vision for the resurgent nation. Rare interviews with Arthur Griffith and Eoin MacNeill further
enhance this book, which was long out of print.
B37. WALDRON, Jarlath. Maamtrasna. The Murders and The Mystery. With location map and
engineers map of the route taken by the murderers in 1882, depicting the roads, rivers, mountains,
and houses with names of occupants. With numerous illustrations and genealogical chart of the
chief protagonists. Dublin: De Búrca, 2004. Demy octavo. Fifth edition. pp. 335. Mint in
illustrated wrappers with folding flaps €20
“This is a wonderful book, full of honour, contrast and explanation. The author has done something more
than resurrect the ghosts of the misjudged. He has projected lantern slides of a past culture, the last of
15Edmund Burke Publisher
Europe’s Iron Age, the cottage poor of the west of Ireland”. - Frank Delaney, The Sunday Times.
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES
B38. YOUNG, Amy Isabel. Three Hundred Years in Innishowen, being more particularly an
account of the family of Young of Culdaff. With a foreword by David Dickson. Dublin: De Búrca,
November 2018. Royal octavo. Second edition. 412 pages. Green buckram titled in gilt. Limited to
300 copies. A fine reprint. €75
Amy Young’s 300 Years in Innishowen is a vast and richly illustrated history of a Culdaff, County
Donegal landed family and of a wider social world that spanned much of north Ulster. The book was
originally published in 1929 in a short print-run. It was based on extensive archival research, using
collections that had been destroyed in 1922 (both in Donegal and in the PROI). Apart from ten
generations of Youngs, the families that feature prominently include the Gages, the Harts, the Harveys,
the Knoxes, the Lawrences, the McLaughlins and various branches of the Stuarts.
B39. WOODS, C.J. Ed by. Charles Abbot’s Tour through Ireland and North Wales in September
and October 1792. With a foreword by David Dickson. Illustrated. Dublin: De Búrca, 2018. Royal
octavo. Circa 190 pages. €20
FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS
NEW EDITION OF THE ANNALS OF CLONMACNOISE
B40. Ó MURAÍLE, Nollaig. Ed. by. The ‘Annals of Cluain Mhic Nóis’ translated in 1627 by
Conall Mag Eochagáin (Annals of Ireland from the Earliest Period to AD 1408 – based on BL
Add. MS 4817, with some variants from TCD MS 673). Edited by Nollaig Ó Muraíle. Dublin: De
Búrca, 2019. Quarto. pp. circa 680. Green buckram, titled in gilt on spine. In matching slipcase.
Price approximately €125
The so-called Annals of Clonmacnoise - an inaccurate title bestowed in the 17th century by Sir James
Ware - are a collection of Irish annals that purport to extend from the earliest times (Adam and Eve!)
down to the year AD 1408. The text - an English translation completed in 1627 - is the work of Conall
Mag Eochagáin, a Gaelic gentleman from Lismoyny, County Westmeath.
The early portion of the text (about one-sixth of the whole) is based on the medieval work of pseudo-
prehistory called Lebar Gabála Érenn (the Book of the Taking of Ireland, the so-called ‘Book of
Invasions’), while much of the remainder is closely related to other collections of Irish annals, especially
those of Ulster, Loch Cé and Connacht. The Irish text from which Mag Eochagáin worked is now lost, as
indeed is the original manuscript of his translation. The entire work survives in a number of manuscript-
copies penned in the later 17th century, as well as in some later copies. The only edition produced to
date, that by Fr Denis Murphy, SJ, was published 120 years ago and is a sadly inadequate production,
being based on one of the less satisfactory manuscripts. Among its many shortcomings is the
deletion/censorship by the editor of some passages he deemed ‘offensive’.
A new edition has long been called for, and this Nollaig Ó Muraíle has now undertaken. To be
published later this year, 2021, the edition is based on a manuscript which is deemed to be superior to the
other surviving manuscripts, BL Additional MS 4817. This was written in 1661 by a native of Tralee,
Domhnall Ó Súilleabháin. (Occasional words, and sometimes longer phrases, omitted by Ó Súilleabháin
have been inserted from TCD MS 673 - the manuscript on which Murphy based his edition.)
In accordance with modern historical practice, the text of the annals (running to approximately
100,000 words) has been modernised, in terms of both orthography and punctuation - except in the case
of proper names (both people and places). (Nothing is gained by preserving the very irregular early 17th-
century spelling, erratic capitalisation, etc., which make Murphy’s edition so frustrating to use.) As is the
norm with modern editions of Irish annals’ collections - such as those published over the past seven
decades by the School of Celtic Studies, DIAS - the various entries are divided into numbered paragraphs
under the appropriate year. (Admittedly, the rather erratic chronological arrangement of these annals
rendered this difficult in a number of instances.) Where an entry has a parallel in one of the other
annalistic collections, this is inserted after the appropriate paragraph. Also inserted after each paragraph
are the correct Irish forms of the proper names aforementioned - so many of which are quite
16Edmund Burke Publisher
unrecognisable in their often quite bizarre anglicised forms. Those Irish forms - using the standard
Classical Irish spelling - will also facilitate the provision of a ‘user friendly’ series of indices.
The publication of this new edition will be welcomed by scholars, who have all too often tended to ignore
this intriguing text because of the difficulties of handling Murphy’s now obsolete work.
B41. MURRAY, Patrick and Paul. The Life And Times Of Kathleen O’Connell 1888 to 1956:
Eamon de Valera’s Indispensable Secretary. Dublin: De Búrca, 2019. Royal octavo. pp. circa 200.
Green buckram, titled in gilt on spine. In pictorial dust jacket. Approximately €35
Limited edition of 25 copies in special binding and housed in a slipcase. Approximately €200
This is the first book dealing with the life and times of Kathleen O’Connell. When her name is
mentioned, it is almost invariably in association with that of Eamon de Valera. This is because her life
derived its deepest significance from her unwavering attachment to whatever cause he espoused. For this
reason, any record of her life is bound to throw incidental insights of varying quality on several aspects of
de Valera’s career and outlook. Some of his documentary materials, which she compiled and preserved,
particularly her diaries and her confidential communications from de Valera, are an indispensable part of
the historical record. This book will confirm her right to be recognised as a historically significant figure.
Officially, Kathleen O’Connell was de Valera’s personal secretary. As this book will show, her role
was much more extensive than that. De Valera himself frequently made it clear, at critical phases of his
life, for example his imprisonment in 1923 and particularly his total loss of sight in 1952, that he would
find it virtually impossible to sustain a political career without Kathleen O’Connell’s continuous help.
The research undertaken in the production of this book explores some surprising occurrences. For
example, we found that a Free State Minister for Defence tried to persuade the British authorities to
provide his government with poison gas as a weapon of war. The British authorities refused, but offered
tear gas instead, which the Free State Minister declared inadequate.
Another fascinating discovery was that Kathleen O’Connell’s great-uncle, Jeremiah O’Sullivan, who
was a Fenian, based in London, tried to free another Fenian, imprisoned in Clerkenwell Jail, by using a
wheelbarrow full of explosives. As a result of the explosion, the roof of the jail was blown off and the
debris killed several passers-by. Jeremiah O’Sullivan was able to escape and ended up in the U.S.A.
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